While hard-core hockey types may eventually tire of the arcade-heavy gameplay, NHL 2001 is still a solid playing hockey game that will satisfy the needs of most players.

Really just a slight refinement of the well-established DDR formula.

The "Madden" or "Tony Hawk" of stock car racing games. It's as close as you can get to the real thing.

The best driving game currently available on any console, let alone the Dreamcast, and once you crest the game's steep learning curve, the addictive need to constantly best other players' lap times will provide weeks of replayability.

The moral dilemmas and confronting moments created by manufacturing and living with alternate versions of yourself is a captivating narrative that The Alters delivers on, creating moments of emotional and mechanical tension by balancing its various management systems atop one another. It paves the way for some nail-biting victories and memorable interactions, but is also hampered by occasional tedium and needlessly frustrating exploration that is governed too heavily by a single resource. Still, the plight of Jan Dolski and his mission to get home is one that is bound to be very different for each player of The Alters, and is a stressful adventure I won't soon forget.

The main storyline is involving, and the arctic setting provides a fresh addition to the lore of the series.

It stumbles with certain game modes and its effort to appeal to kids with a poorly integrated story is ham-fisted at best, but Boom Blox is still a good game. Most of the hundreds of puzzles are fun to play alone, and it's also entertaining to taunt friends during their turn as they try to keep a tower from collapsing.

Madden NFL 08 is a significant step forward for the series, bringing to the table features that are legitimately game-changing.

All that truly matters is what unfolds in those virtual ninety minutes, either against a friend, an online stranger, or the computer. On that test alone, PES 2016 represents the best game in the series since the PlayStation 2 era.

Although you can't say the same for the plot, Far Cry 2's first-person action squeezes every last drop of potential out of the unique African setting.

Still, Rogue Legacy's few blemishes are easy to overlook when the game is so good at rewarding persistence. Rogue Legacy is simple yet deep, easy to pick up yet hard to master.

Hatty Hattington and his friends may be living through an absolute nightmare, but you're bound to be so thoroughly entertained that you won't have time to empathize.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a great game, combining exploration, sandbox-building, questing, and town-management into a delightful package that will gladly suck up your time and put a big smile on your face. It's the sort of game that you'll intend to play for a little while, only to find that hours have flown by once you manage to actually put it down. Don't dismiss this one when you see big square blocks on the box--you'll be missing out on a very fun twist on an excellent gaming foundation.

Entertaining highs and frustrating lows punctuate a Castlevania game that--in an effort to redefine the series--loses its identity.

The additions and alterations aren't game changing, and Diamond and Pearl do what the Pokémon franchise has always done best--deliver an accessible and highly addictive role-playing game experience.

Though the mode selection hasn't evolved much over that of Virtua Fighter 4, this fifth installment builds upon its predecessor's fighting system and is a better overall fighting game...A great fighting game that's specifically geared toward players who have experience with the series.

Anyone who appreciates what makes a truly great game should be able to recognize Ikaruga for its elegant design, aesthetic beauty, and sheer challenge.

Yakuza is an exemplary, if flawed series that does an incredible job of steeping you in contemporary Japanese-style crime drama, and establishing an evocative sense of place. Yakuza Kiwami 2 is an excellent example of the series at its best, coupling its most memorable stories and characters with its most sophisticated mechanics yet.

Features a memorable protagonist, a great setting, and some very interesting missions. It also happens to suffer from a variety of miscellaneous, minor flaws. These are unfortunate, since Thief: Deadly Shadows is great game, for the most part.

A few underwhelming cases do little to dampen The Rise of the Golden Idol's unmistakable quality. This is a worthy successor to one of 2022's best games, putting a fresh spin on its singular concept with another collection of challenging and inventive puzzles. With a compelling story tying it all together and smart changes to its interface, Rise of the Golden Idol is everything you could ask for from a sequel; it's an excellent continuation of a singular idea, and there's already more on the way. Armchair sleuths are eating well.

This lengthy add-on is filled with so much humor, action, and looting satisfaction that it could very well be the highlight of all your Pandoran adventures.

West of Loathing's visuals are monochromatic, but there's enjoyable comedy painted between every line, a pitch-perfect Spaghetti Western soundtrack, and a full spectrum of role-playing possibilities to choose from that make it a consistently enjoyable madcap cowboy jaunt.

UFC Undisputed 3 raises the bar for MMA games and is harder to put down than a heavyweight champ.

It's almost unfair to compare Rogue Legacy to other games that emphasize permanent death. It doesn't have the secrets of Spelunky and it's more predictable than The Binding of Isaac, yet at the end of every game comes a desire to hop right back in, spend your gold on some upgrades and rack up more monster kills, something the game encourages with a challenging new-game-plus option that appears after the credits roll.

The full game is for those with actual dreams (faded or otherwise) of being a football manager, while Classic mode is aimed at those with a more active social life and a desire for instant gratification. Whereas last year's game was the beginning of this dual-focus outlook, this season it feels fully realised thanks to the further depth and complexity added to the core experience.

Much more than just an annual rehash - it repairs whatever damage was done by last year's version, heads in a more authentic direction, and offers numerous new features.

It's still a relatively simple and short action game at heart, but a solid combat system, some extremely intense and cinematic levels, cool extras that fans of the movies will enjoy, and the option to play cooperatively with a friend all add up to make The Return of the King deserving of its name.

It's great because it combines elegance, interesting gameplay choices, and the attraction of card-collecting in what has to be one of the very best pure game designs of the year.